If you follow us on Facebook (and we hope you do!) you have been treated to a play-by-play of these busy weeks. Steve Reich is here in Toronto celebrating his 80th with Soundstreams. The birthday gala is on Thursday evening at Massey Hall, and Bob, Russ and Garry will share the stage with Steve
From time to time I receive questions regarding specific passages for percussion in the orchestra and chamber music repertoire. Question: Can you shed some light on Stravinsky’s notation at rehearsal “29” in “Les Noces” in the caisse claire/tambour sans timbre part? Response: I assume that this question is about the rolled-chords (vertical wavy lines)… Read more »
Here is a blogpost I made on the Cambridge University Press site. Check it out HERE.
Cover Art! When Bill was producing his Solo Percussionist album, he saw this angel image in black and white in a book on musical instruments that identified it only as “from a Book of the Hours, made in Milan for the Sforza family ca. 1494”. The book credited the British Library – so he contacted… Read more »
“Robin: artist, musician, performer, composer, teacher, mentor, writer, hilarious jokester, probing conversationalist, foodie, golfer, voracious reader and a most curious mind, has left us. Devoted husband to Eleanor, “King of the World” to his children Bryce and Dorothy, “Ogi” to his grandchildren Esme, Grayson and Lucie and father-in-law to Richard and Jill.” www.robinengelman.com
On Saturday, February 27, 2016 when I first received news of Robin’s passing, I was overwhelmed with a deep sense of sadness that can only come from losing someone who is loved as a longtime friend, mentor, and colleague. My mind has been flooded with memories, and yet it has taken days to be able… Read more »
I recently attended a performance of the New York Theatre Ballet entitled Legends & Visionaries. It took place at the cool little theater of New York Live Arts on 19th Street in Manhattan (newyorklivearts.org). The dance performance included a work by Philip Glass entitled Etudes for Piano, nos. 1-10, arranged by Josh Quillen, the director… Read more »
It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of NEXUS founding member Robin Engelman. As the message came to us, ‘Robin left “On Tour” yesterday afternoon, Friday, February 26.’ As John Wyre said, Robin brought “enormous authority to his performance and to his life.” A memorial page is being created on Robin’s website… Read more »
On November 7, 2015 the collection of disc phonograph records listed in this index below was delivered to the Center for Mallet Percussion Research at Kutztown University, c/o the Kutztown University Foundation located at 15200 Kutztown Road, Kutztown, PA 19530. To read more about the Archive CLICK HERE: Notes on the Archive Included in the… Read more »
After posting the information about the publication of “Time Zones” (see my preceding blog post), I received the following response on Facebook from Lee Gurst, whom I have known since high school days in Philadelphia, at which time I greatly admired his concert snare drumming. Lee studied with Philadelphia Orchestra percussionist, Michael Bookspan, one of… Read more »
I’m excited and pleased to announce that Bachovich Music Publications is now publishing my “Time Zones – Five Concert Pieces for Snare Drum.” The compositions are intended to be added to the repertoire for solo percussion recitals, and the five pieces were composed to be complimentary, so that any number of them – from one… Read more »
Just to keep you in the loop, here’s what’s happening: 1) Three NEXUS albums are now on CD Baby!! Details below. 2) We have a brand NEW NEXUS album to be released soon! See below. 3) NEXUS members are in residencies in Columbus OH, Fredonia NY, and Philadelphia. See below. 4) Russell is heading to… Read more »
Pierre Boulez, composer and conductor, passed away on January 5 at the age of 90. It is said that conductors live long lives due to their intense mental and physical activity during performances. His compositions are still considered by many to be avant-garde due to their complexity. Composer Edgard Varèse has attributed this attitude to… Read more »
Isn’t that great?! We made it onto the CD Hotlist’s Top Picks for December! Check out this GREAT review: “The percussion quartet Nexus has prepared two suites of arrangements for this recording: the first is a set of six compositions by the famous outsider composer Moondog; the second is a suite of seven songs by… Read more »
From Chimalong Junior to Chimalong Panacea, it’s all about children and music. In the early 1980s when Diane and I started our family, there were no high-quality musical instruments on the market for children that I was aware of. So I had an idea to take the musically tuned tubes from our line of Woodstock… Read more »
